I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Zack Hunt agrees with Pat Robertson that young earth Creationists (YEC) are morons.
After all, he’s gone to great lengths to make it clear he doesn’t believe in Calvin’s God; for those of you keeping score at home, that’s the God of the Bible.
See, Mr. Hunt, and Rachel Held Evans, and all the other liberal celebrity Christians, have invented a god that they can be comfortable with. One who doesn’t disagree with them. A weak, powerless, pathetic deity.
So if Mr. Hunt wants to stand against 6000 years of great Christian thinkers (Calvin) and scientists (like Newton and Maxwell) he’s perfectly free to do so. But his god is deaf, dumb, and blind. And therefore so is he.
I’m glad I worship the God of the bible and not Hunt’s and Evans’ and Robertson’s deaf, dumb, and blind god.

Last night I had the pleasure of watching Darren Aronofsky’s Noah on the big screen over in Pullman.

I entered the theater with the highest of hopes, and a great deal of trepidation. The past several months, and the past week in particular, has featured an unceasing onslaught of uncharitable pre-reviews, quotes taken out of context to damn the director, and pure, irrational, outrage and hatred. Christians who a few weeks before had gathered together to proclaim their loud support for L’oreal Jesus in a hastily re-cut movie salvaged from what was meant to be an entire season’s worth of Gospel retelling, spewed bile at a skilled director who was absolutely in love with the story he wanted to present, and who had spent decades working up to it. We neither knew this, nor cared to find out. The truth of the situation was not our concern next to the…

We critics of modern society tend to run into a problem very similar to the one you encounter when you go to a bar with 27 different beers on tap.

Sometimes, we just don’t know where to begin.

That’s how I feel when I read about the progressives working themselves into a lather over that religious freedom bill in Arizona. The legislation simply solidifies a business owner’s right to act according to his or her religious beliefs (I say “further solidifies” because the First Amendment already covers this ground pretty thoroughly). “News” outlets like CNN, engaging in blatant editorializing (surprise!), refer to it as “the anti-gay bill,” because part of religious freedom is the right to not participate in activities which you find mortally sinful.

It’s not that business owners want to “refuse service” to gays simply because they’re gay; it’s that some business owners — particularly people who work in the wedding industry…

One of the easiest cop-outs in any argument is “that’s your opinion.” Once you pull out this little gem, the opponent’s entire argument is invalidated based on the fact that you can think for yourself, thanks very much, and please stop pushing your personal views on the subject onto other people.

The problem is that opinions have very little to do with the truth. In fact, they have nothing do with truth or facts. An opinion is how you feel about the truth. An opinion can be based on something that is true, or it can be based on something that is false.

But, you say, doesn’t that have everything to do with what you believe to be the case about the given issue? To that I answer, “Greg Bahsen,” and retire for the evening. Merely believing that something is the truth does not mean it is the truth – there is only one Truth, and you are possibly (in fact likely) deceiving yourself about what it is you believe.

Pulling the opinion card usually happens because we don’t like to admit that the other person is right (or we’re just tired of arguing to begin with). If they’re right and I’m wrong, that at the very least indicates if not demands that I need to change the way I think about the world and the way I act.

Now, it is a certain sure thing that everyone disagrees on everything all the time. How do we sift through the opinions and find the truth?

Stop using the word “opinion” and use the word “belief.” That’s what we really mean anyway, and a belief can be argued. An opinion is never true or false and thus it is useless. A belief is always true or false and thus is infinitely necessary in shaping how we view the world. This is the key distinction. Even a belief that seems trivial belies a deeper worldview that informs and determines our thoughts and actions. For example, my personal belief that God created the world ~6000 years ago is not an opinion (because it is either true or false). Furthermore, this belief is girded by my faith that the God who exists revealed Himself through His Word, and that in turn girds (or should gird) my every action and additional belief.

Check all beliefs against Scripture. All of them. If you belief gravity is what holds us to the earth and keeps the planets in motion around the Sun, check it against Scripture. The Scripture bears up all that is true, and without the Word there can be no sure truth. To repeat my example, that belief is true because it is corroborated by all of Scripture. Arguments about “what Scripture really means” can always be resolved with enough study in the Word, submission to its Authority, and prayer that the Spirit would be sent to open our hearts.

None of this is to say that opinions do not exist. You might hold the opinion that setting the AC down is more personally preferable than setting it up. Arguments still arise from this (many times), but the fact of that opinion stands (because it is subjective and therefore unverifiable, which oddly enough means there is no necessary reason to doubt it). If you think that a cold environment leads to a hardier immune system, that’s a belief, and one that’s not necessarily true.

So do everyone a favor and stop saying “that’s your opinion.” Instead, offer to dive into the Scriptures alongside your disagreeing opponent and search out matters that God has hidden.

Although a majority of Americans do not personally favor gay marriage, many believe that the institution of marriage will be redefined to include it.

They believe that the historic position of our nation (and of most of human history) will be rejected as a relic of ignorance and bigotry. But this viewpoint has been promoted by a very deceitful and manipulative distortion of truth.

A number of years ago, I suggested that legalization of gay marriage as a civil right will open a legal Pandora’s box throughout the nation. I said this to a university audience as a guest on a panel at an Open Forum. A visiting law professor immediately rejected my assertion. But she was countered by a nationally recognized lawyer in the audience who listed cases currently in the courts that validated my point. She remained silent for the rest of the discussion.